Double, Double, Toil & Trouble
by SogniDoroBella
Summary: Once Upon a Kindergarten series, rumbelle-centric with a dash of RedBeauty. The bitties have spring fever. What should be a fun class activity turns into a clash of wills. Belle might be little, but she's no push-over.


Inspired by  post/45739459865/bobby-bubbles-part-one .

"You're doing it wrong," Rum said as he glanced at Belle before regarding the tub of soapy water in front of him. He dipped the plastic circle down into the solution and pulled it up. Taking a deep breath, he blew it out slowly and grinned at the giant bubble floated up and… popped.

They only had one more day before spring break, and Rum wasn't exactly sure what a spring break was—it wasn't really spring because it was still cold, even if they only needed their medium jackets and not the really big ones from winter—but he knew they didn't have school next week. And he was going to spend a whole week with Belle (and Ruby and Viktor). Anyway, nobody could concentrate on their work, and a lot of kids were already absent today because they left early to go on break. So their teacher had said they were going to be scientists and make a _solution_. It was mixing stuff together, and Leroy had been grouchy about _just bubbles_, but it reminded Rum of magic, so he was happy.

And Belle was happy, too, even if she was doing bubbles the wrong way. She was waving her ring around, making a drippy trail of soap on the ground.

He ran over to Belle's tub of soapy mix that Viktor had just poured and pulled the plastic ring she was using out of the way. "No, look, it's like _this_," he insisted, dunking in his plastic ring and making the sides splash over a little bit. He didn't think it spilled. Anyway, it was ready now.

"No, I'm using that," she protested, reaching for the pieces and giving a little squeak of surprise when the stuff in the tub made a little splash.

"But, look, this is better," Rum insisted, pulling out his plastic circle and blowing. A series of medium size bubbles float slowly out, instead of the big one he was hoping to get.

Ruby shot by them, chasing the string and swatting at them with a laugh. "Gotcha!"

"Ruby, they were pretty," Belle protested.

"And they look pretty when they explode, too," her friend laughed, running after the latest batch of bubbles from David and Mary Margaret.

Belle found her ring on the ground and fussed over how dirty it was before dunking it back into the mix. She pulled it out and started to twirl slowly.

"No," Rum shook his head and caught her arm to stop her. "Blow through the middle of it."

"No, you twirl around or run," she insisted, squirming out of his reach and spinning too fast. Only a messy drip came from her ring.

He gave her a smug look and dunked his ring back into the mixture. "See, it's like this," he demonstrated, blowing hard and ending up with no better results than she had.

"_See_," Belle mimicked, face scrunching up in retort. "yours was wrong, too." She started to put her ring back into the tub at the same time he did, both of them bumping into each other.

Rum gave her his fiercest scowl. "It was my turn, Belle!"

"Everybody always says _ladies first_, Rummmel… Rumbell… Ruma'stil'skin!" she retorted. "'Sides you, had your own over there." She pointed to the tub he had abandoned.

"It's Rumblestil'skin, and you always share with me," he protested, trying to stay angry because she was talking mean in a way she didn't usually talk. And it made him feel foolish, and he wasn't going to cry. Not in school and not with other kids here to laugh at him. "You're 'sposed to _share._"

She stomped her foot angrily. "_Vous n'êtes pas le patron de moi_! You can't just take all of it and say I did it wrong. You had your own. So you keep the messy and dirty one, and I'm going," she finished before she turned and stomped back to his first tub and dunked her ring into it and started to run. A line of bubbles followed in her wake.

Blinking in surprise, both at how mad she had been and at how easily the bubbles appeared, Rum didn't even see the tub until he was stepping in it. His shoe and sock were wet and slippery now, but he just ignored it and sat down on the grass in a part that wasn't messy.

At first he could tell she was still angry, but after a few more dunks into the liquid, Belle was giggling as she ran and twirled. Ruby was chasing her now, giggling as she swatted at bubbles, jumping for ones that floated way up toward the trees and stomping after the ones settling lower and lower to the ground.

"_Allez, vite!_" Belle laughed, using a word that Rum remembered meant 'faster,' as she quickly produced a new trail of bubbles.

They looked so happy, and he sighed. Belle was right because she was usually right about feelings and about things like sharing. Ruby's granny was going to watch them for a whole week, and he didn't think he wanted a whole week with Belle angry at him. She was why Viktor and sometimes Ruby played with him, and maybe if they knew he made Belle angry, they wouldn't want to play with him. He didn't think Ruby's granny would let him watch tv all the time, either.

Belle was laughing at something Ruby did, and he thought about how he liked hearing her laugh and seeing her smile. For a long time she was sad, and sometimes she was still sad. But he wanted her happy, and Rum wanted her happy with him, too.

Glancing down at his tub—well, okay _Belle's_ tub that got messy because of him—he pushed his bubble ring into the top part that wasn't dirty and carefully pulled it out. Blowing very slowly, he made a perfect bubble. It hovered, shimmering in rainbow colors, and he bent down and blew carefully, making it float higher. Moving bit by bit toward Belle, he was halfway there when it shimmered and popped.

With a grunt of frustration, he stalked back to the tub and dunked the ring one more time. Holding it carefully, he was halfway to Belle when he blew another perfect bubble and blew softer underneath it, walked a few steps, another tiny puff of air, and a third before it slid right in front of her face.

She gave a little smile of wonder as it hovered before her before she blinked in surprise to see him.

"It's okay," he assured, taking her hand with her wand and carefully pulling it under the bubble until the circle rested on top of her wand. "We can do it both ways."

Belle smiled at him before she blinked and gave him a serious look. It reminded him of the bubble popping, and he wanted her smile to come back. "You'll be nice?"

"You're your boss," he answered, starting to dunk his bubble ring into the tub at her feet and waiting for her to nod and give him permission. With a sly smile, he ran in a circle around her, laughing with her as a ring of bubbles floated up around them.

"I'm my boss," she agreed, hugging him and spinning as the bubbles floated up before even Ruby could pop a single one.


End file.
